


The Ice and Flower Queens

by Fire_Bear



Series: APH Yuri Week 2016 [4]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: APH Yuri Week 2016, Boarding School, Bullying, Crushes, Day 4, F/F, First Crush, High School, M/M, Or Is It?, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-07-16 16:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7275556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Bear/pseuds/Fire_Bear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lili and Arthur are eating lunch, discussing Lili's love life. Their peace is shattered, however, when someone turns up to ruin their day...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lunch Amongst Normals

**Author's Note:**

> (I've had to post this a few minutes early on here but, eh, I'm sure it won't matter too much. Well, I don't have to post it now but I'd prefer it since it'll be sometime in the evening when I can post this whereas I have it scheduled to post at midnight on Tumblr...)

“So how is Frosty these days?”

“ _Arthur_!” Lili chided. “Don't be so mean.”

Grinning, Arthur shrugged a shoulder. “Hey, being a queen isn't so bad. And having ice powers would be fun, right?”

“I suppose so...”

“Besides, I expect she'd be a far more 'bad-ass' queen than Elsa.”

Lili struggled to keep quiet as she laughed into the back of her hand. They were in the school's canteen (or cafeteria, as some people called it), eating lunch. It was an unusual occurrence: most of the time, they took food to an empty classroom and ate there in the peace and quiet. Sometimes, they had club activities and neither of them would have the time to get together. Today, though, there was a school inspection and their favourite teachers had each asked them to make sure to be in the canteen at lunchtime. So they had ventured there, hoping the 'popular' kids would ignore them.

Both Arthur and Lili were considered to be geeks or nerds – or both, if some of their peers were to be believed. For his part, Arthur was the president or Grand Master of a magic club. He called it a coven and most people mocked him and his two friends for it. That didn't stop him from carrying charms with him or verbally lashing out at anyone who tried to make fun of him. Arthur was also a member of the gardening club where Lili had met him and he enjoyed embroidery much like her. They had become fast friends so Lili knew that he also enjoyed things like Doctor Who and Harry Potter; he had dressed as a different Doctor for each Halloween for the past eleven years.

Meanwhile, Lili attended the Historical Club. It was widely known as the only club in school to read textbooks out loud but not many people knew that they also took trips to historical locations. In addition to the textbooks and gardening and sewing, Lili also enjoyed making herself and her friends flower crowns, occasionally buying flowers with the express intention of making one. The school body had taken to calling her the Flower Queen as she shared a room with Natalya, someone everyone considered to have such an icy demeanour that she deserved the title of Ice Queen.

Natalya was the captain of both the gymnastics club and the female swimming club. Lili had no doubt she could also be the captain of the track club and the hockey club and all manner of other sports: she had seen Natalya in their PE classes. But Natalya's passion was for gymnastics and swimming. On one occasion, Lili had decided to visit the swimming pool and see what attracted Natalya to it. After managing to gain access, she had stayed at the side and watched them swim up and down. She had easily seen how good Natalya was: the way her body arced into the water; the way she hardly made a splash; the way she effortlessly slipped through the water; the way she ended her swim by rising out of the water with her hair flying above her hair like in a Disney movie; the way the water slid down her neck and the curve of her body...

Lili had had to leave after five minutes.

Scooping up some pasta, Lili blushed from the memory, her gaze dropping to her plate. “Stop being so mean,” she told Arthur. “She can be nice...”

“Such as...?” Arthur prodded. Lili looked up to find his eyebrow raised, looking part amused, part smug. She frowned at him.

“Like when she brought me the books I had left in our room which I needed for my class. Or when she asked me if I had a test a few days before it – I had completely forgotten and _she_ remembered. When I was in bed sick and she brought me chicken soup from the canteen. And my homework from the classes she's in. She found my favourite scarf and left it on my bed for me. And-! And when she stopped those-!” Lili stopped, remembering too late that she hadn't told Arthur about the 'popular' girls who had been picking on her only to stop when Natalya had turned up to defend her and scared them off. Sometimes, when she thought back on that, her heart still raced.

“Stopped what?” asked Arthur, frowning at her.

“N-Nothing! Anyway... what about Alfred?”

“What about him?” Arthur snapped, his cheeks reddening. “And don't you change the subject, Miss Vogel.”

“I'm doing nothing of the sort, Mister Kirkland,” Lili replied. “It's _you_ who's changing the subject.”

They descended into silence, returning to their meals and both hiding their blushes. Lili knew that Arthur knew about her crush on her room-mate. And she also knew that Arthur's crush on Alfred, the star Football player, was painful – he hated acknowledging it and would deny all knowledge. Realising she had put a dampener on their lunch by bringing it up, she sighed and looked up at Arthur again.

“I'm sorry, Arthur. I shouldn't have pried.”

Arthur smiled weakly at her. “It's fine. Let's just... Let's forget about Alfred. Let's focus on you and Natalya.”

“Oh, _Arthur_ ,” Lili said, sighing wearily. “If I can't pry into _your_ love life-”

“That's all we ever talk about, though,” Arthur pointed out. “You always brush aside my questions about _yours_. So. She's given you books, reminded you of a test, nursed you back to health, returned your scarf, done something you don't want me knowing about, you watched her swimming...”

Turning red, Lili almost leapt to her feet. “H-How did you _know_?!”

“Natalya asked me if you were thinking of taking it up the other day,” Arthur said, rather off-handedly. He grinned at Lili as her eyes widened and she gripped the table from leaning towards him in order to find out more. “I told her I wasn't aware of your plans to join – and, you know, I think she looked a little disappointed.”

“Don't be cruel! She did not!”

“She did!” Arthur protested. “I swear.”

“Gosh,” Lili murmured, slumping in her chair and covering her blushing face in her hands. “I can't join – I don't have...” She trailed off and waved her hands in front of her chest.

“Doesn't that make you more streamlined?” Arthur asked, smirking at Lili. The girl threw the crust from her bread at him. Laughing, Arthur defended himself easily and placed it back on her tray. “In all seriousness, though,” he said as he picked up his cup of water, “I reckon you should tell her-”

“No!”

“-or maybe not. Maybe you could make her one of your crowns. Find out what flowers she likes the most. I expect Kat knows.”

“I-I'm not going to ask her _sister_.”

“ _Adopted_ sister, remember?”

“Urgh!” Lili threw her arms in the air. “You are impossible. There's no way I could-”

“Well, well, well,” said a voice close by and Lili froze, staring at Arthur. He had stilled as well, though his eyes widened in surprise. The colour rose in his cheeks only to disappear when he turned his head slightly in order to see the newcomer. Lili glanced over as well, finding Alfred standing there with his Football friends. They were all grinning wickedly and Alfred was smirking at Arthur: it looked like he only had eyes for the self-proclaimed Grand Master. “Look at this. Finally thought you'd join the real world, Kirkland?”

For a moment, the only noises were the sniggering of Alfred's friends and the background chatter of the rest of the school. Lili didn't dare move, waiting to see if her friend required her help. But Arthur took a deep breath and turned fully to Alfred. “Who says this is the 'real world'?” he asked. “Perhaps we are all part of a giant computer programme. Maybe we're a dream or a dream of a dream. Who knows? _You_ certainly wouldn't.”

Alfred blinked, looking surprised. Before he could speak, though, a question clearly on his mind, one of his friends laughed. “Ha! Get over yourself, Kirkland. Friendless nobodies like you say stuff like that all the time. Just accept you're a freak and move out of our way.”

“Dude,” Lili heard Alfred murmur, as if he thought his friend had gone too far. But it was too late: Lili watched Arthur slump slightly, his hands shaking as he held them in front of himself as if to shield himself from the insults. Then he turned, grabbed his bag and stood.

“Sorry, Lili,” he said, his voice low. He wouldn't look at her, even as she tried to catch his eye. “I've got to-” His voice cracked and he shook his head. “I'll see you later...” With that, he turned and rushed off, leaving the canteen as quickly as he could. The Footballers all moved off and Lili turned to glare at them, only to find Alfred still standing beside the table. She scowled at him but he didn't notice, too busy chewing on his lip and staring at the door Arthur had left through. Without a word to Lili, he left, heading towards his friends and resolutely looking away from the door.

Left to her own devices, Lili sighed. She wanted to find her friend and comfort him but she knew he wouldn't appreciate her seeing him cry. Instead, she began to stack up their dishes to take them away. Just as she was finishing, a voice behind her almost made her jump out of her skin.

“Are you okay?”

Gasping, Lili spun around, almost upending her chair. Behind her stood Natalya, as resplendent as ever in a blue t-shirt and jeans, her hair tied up in a high ponytail. She gazed calmly at Lili with her frosty blue eyes, waiting patiently for an answer. It was one of the things Lili liked about her – she would never push Lili to speak, never rush her into a decision.

“I'm fine,” said Lili. “Why?”

“I saw Alfred and his team bothering you and Arthur. Since you're alone, I wanted to know if you were upset or not.”

“Oh, no. It's Arthur who's upset,” Lili explained, frowning at the thought of her friend, alone, hiding from the world.

Natalya raised an eyebrow. “Would you like me to find him for you?”

Lili was surprised. Natalya had never asked to do something beforehand and she certainly had never expressed an interest in helping Lili. She wondered what Arthur would say about this and tried to push the imaginary comments from her mind before she started blushing. Quickly, she ordered her thoughts and nodded, still bewildered. “If you can...?” she said, hesitantly.

“I'm sure I know where he's gone,” Natalya said. She swayed a little, as if she had begun to move only to stop herself, perhaps unsure whether to leave or not. Then she stepped towards Lili (who held her breath, sure a blush was rising in her cheeks despite her best efforts) and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Everything will be all right.” With a quick squeeze of Lili's shoulder, Natalya turned to go, hand brushing against Lili's neck as she did so. A tingling sensation shot through Lili's body as she watched Natalya leave.

Minutes passed as Lili stared the length of the canteen, in the direction Natalya had disappeared. Her perception had narrowed to that point, ignoring those around her. Slowly, the noise of the other students chattering and eating, enjoying their midday break, filtered through her shocked sense. It still took her some time to come out of her thoughts and return to her task, though, slowly reaching for Arthur's cup.

For the rest of the day, her thoughts revolved around three main questions: was Natalya opening up to her? Were they, at the very least, friends now? And could Lili ever be more than that to the athlete?


	2. Working Together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a second part! This is set a few weeks later and is totally happening because I wanted all for of them in the one room - without it being a classroom, anyways.
> 
> … Not that _that_ lasts long…

“... and so,” Mrs. Clapham concluded, “I'll be putting you all into groups of four. I have no desire to watch you squabbling or having half-finished projects presented to me. Please listen for your name and then arrange to meet outside of class to discuss this further.”

“Is she _trying_ to torture us?” Arthur murmured to Lili.

Giggling, Lili shook her head. “If she didn't do it, all the friends would stick together. It's only fair.”

“As long as we don't get Creeby in our groups.”

“Creeby's not so bad. He doesn't speak much.”

“But I  _really_ hate his name.”

Biting her lip to keep from laughing loudly, Lili turned her head to find a common sight these days; Natalya was watching her from across the room. Their eyes met and Lili quickly looked away, hoping her cheeks hadn't turned red. As she turned her head, she caught sight of Alfred glancing their way. He quickly returned to his attention to his friend when Creeby whispered into his ear. They both snickered and glanced once more in their direction. Lili turned back to Arthur and hoped he hadn't seen; the glare said otherwise.

“... John Creeby and Kiku Honda will be in the fifth group.”

“Ooh,” whispered Arthur. “Poor Kiku.”

Lili hid her grin by ducking her head and quickly scribbling a few words from the board. Realising she had already written them down, she shook her head and promptly had to catch her flower crown. Today, she had decided on a combination of carnations and lily of the valley, weaved together with cattail. The day before, Alfred had been mean to Arthur again and she was hoping to promote some sort of peace so that Arthur could get through the day without him wanting to cry. Once she had straightened the crown, she scored out the words she didn't need and looked over at Arthur. He was looking at her flowers, seemingly bemused.

“... Lili Vogel, Arthur Kirkland and Alfred Jones. Now,  _as quietly as possible_ , move into your groups, if you please.”

There was a sudden commotion around Lili and Arthur but they stayed where they were, both stunned at the announcement. Slowly, Lili looked around at Arthur whose eyes were so wide that Lili worried they would pop out. “Oh,  _Arthur_ ,” she breathed, putting a comforting hand on his arm.

“Why does the universe hate me?” Arthur murmured, finally relaxing from his tensed state.

“I'm sorry, Arthur.” Lili paused, her brain catching up with her. “Wait,” she said, frowning. “Who was the fourth person in our group?”

Arthur blinked at her. Then he smiled, looking strained. “I would have thought you'd have heard her name, considering...”

“So,” said a familiar voice from behind Lili. Cautiously, Lili twisted in her seat till she could look up at the tall form of Natalya. Alfred stood beside her, scowling at nothing. “Whose room should we meet in?” Natalya asked.

* * *

Since Lili and Natalya shared a room, they decided it would be simpler just to meet there after dinner. Which gave both Lili and Arthur plenty of time to bemoan their situation during their evening meal.

“Oh, gosh,” Lili said, nervously playing with her green beans. “I've never worked with Natalya before  _at all_ . This will be the most I'll have talked to her all year!”

“You're lucky,” Arthur growled, glaring at his cup. “At least you don't need to work with anyone who hates you.”

Wincing, Lili shook her head. “I don't think he hates you, Arthur...”

“He clearly does,” Arthur argued, raising his eyes to glare at Lili. She watched as all the fight drained out of him and he slumped. “It's... so hard...”

“I know,” murmured Lili, reaching out to place her hand on his. “I'm sure, without his friends to act out with, he'll be calmer. Nicer. Maybe he'll even get along with you and then...”

“Don't,” Arthur whispered. “Don't raise my hopes, Lil.”

“Sorry,” said Lili, grimacing at her mistake.

“On the other hand, I think _you'll_ do all right.” Arthur gave Lili a weak grin. “All _you_ need to do is lean into her when you're working on this and...” His grin grew as he raised an eyebrow and Lili's cheeks grew hot.

“St-Stop that!” Lili hissed, glancing around in case someone overheard them. “I hope you're not going to do that tonight.”

“ _Someone_ should have a happy ending,” Arthur mumbled, returning his attention to his meal and poking at his carrots. Lili bit her lip and fell silent as well, praying that there would be two happy endings soon...

* * *

There was a rather awkward silence when they finally gathered in Lili and Natalya's room. After working out where everyone was sitting and making sure they had everything, they paused, waiting. Lili tried not to fidget lest she draw attention to herself. A couple of times, though, she was tempted to break the silence, even going so far as to take a deep breath and open her mouth. Each time, she faltered under the eyes of Alfred and Natalya, both of them watching her with interest.

Thankfully, Arthur was the one to speak first, saving Lili from saying something silly. “So,” he said. “I think the first question should be which type of literature should we do our report on?”

“Comic books,” Alfred said, immediately.

“Those. Aren't. Literature,” Arthur ground out.

“They are too! They're considered an art form, y'know.”

“Don't be so daft-!” Arthur began but Natalya interrupted.

“We should still write it down, consider all ideas,” she said, raising an eyebrow at Arthur.

For a moment, Arthur seemed about to argue. Then he jotted down the initials 'CB' as if he thought it wasn't worth the time to write it out in full. “Fine. I was thinking that we could do Gothic literature. You know: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Portrait of Dorian Gray...”

“Those are way too wordy,” Alfred protested.

Before a fight could break out, Natalya wrote down the idea and Lili rushed to copy her. Their actions stopped Arthur from retorting and Alfred only sighed before noting it down, too. “Um,” said Lili into the silence. “Maybe fantasy? We could compare how the fantasy world reflects our own...?”

“That's a brilliant idea!” Arthur declared and wrote it down. Lili glanced at Alfred and saw his eyes narrow.

“Then, how about romance?” Natalya asked. “We could talk about how realistic they are.”

Another silence fell on them, loaded with tension and embarrassment. “Yes...” Arthur eventually said and wrote it down, ducking his head far more than he needed to. Lili knew why: she was also blushing. Clearing his throat, Arthur added, “And we could always consider science fiction, see how older books viewed the world and if technology has actually developed the way they thought.” After writing that down, he continued, “I think those are enough different forms to consider – we should probably pick the one-”

“Hang on,” said Alfred, leaning forwards and further into the small circle they had formed, encroaching on Arthur's personal space. “Why are any of those ideas different from comic books?”

“Because they use _actual words_ and _more complex_ ways of conveying a point.”

“Comic books can do that, too!”

“Oh, sure. Words like 'Bam' and 'Pow'.”

“It still tells a story! And it's still a valid type of literature!”

“Fine!” snapped Arthur, glaring at Alfred so much that Lili could barely see his eyes. “We'll consider it. That's why we _wrote it down_.”

“But comics would be easier to-”

“We don't _want_ easy,” Arthur argued. “We _want_ a good grade. Right, Lili?”

“Well, yes,” said Lili, hesitantly. “But-”

“See? Only _you_ would think that 'simple is best'.”

“ _Please_ -” Lili tried but she was cut off yet again.

“It's better than being _boring_ ,” Alfred retorted.

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, fury clear on his face, but Natalya beat him to it. “Enough. This argument is getting us nowhere. And you keep interrupting Lili – let her speak.”

Blushing at both the fact that Natalya had stood up for her again and that everyone was now looking at her, Lili looked away from them. “Um... I think we should choose one so we can start working...?”

There was a brief silence, almost peaceful in comparison to the previous arguing. Then Arthur spoke. “Lili's right. Let's all agree that _some_ of-” He broke off and cleared his throat, glaring down at his notebook. “That we all have different tastes. What we need to decide is which one to choose.”

“Well, I'm not doing romance,” said Alfred immediately, his nose scrunched in distaste.

“Because we all must bow to your demands,” Arthur muttered. Lili tensed beside him, sensing another argument starting.

“What was that?” Alfred growled.

“Nothing,” said Arthur. “If we rule out romance, we've got science fiction, fantasy and Gothic.”

“And comic books,” said Alfred, his eyes still narrowed.

“I've not read many comic books,” said Natalya before Arthur could speak. “What about you, Lili?”

“No,” Lili replied, realising the implications. “I'm sorry, Alfred, but maybe we should go with what the majority have read?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” said Alfred, snappily. “Just leave me out, then.”

“It's not _our_ fault you don't _read_ ,” Arthur pointed out.

“I _do_. Just because I don't read, like, Lord of the Rings or whatever for fun, doesn't mean I'm stupid.”

“I never said tha-”

“You were thinking it!”

Arthur exploded: Lili could almost see the past few week's frustrations spilling from his mouth. “Well, if _you're_ in charge of this, we'll have some stupid, simplistic presentation that everyone will laugh at us for!”

“At least it wouldn't be what _you_ want!” Alfred retorted, his hands clenched in fists.

“You don't _know_ what I want!”

“It would be something about vampires and fairies – something a _freak_ would talk about!”

Everything stilled. Lili wasn't sure she was breathing, watching her friend and Alfred with wide eyes. She wondered, briefly, if she should say something now that they'd stopped. Then she noticed the way Arthur was suddenly trembling, the way he was biting his lip. She knew that look. “Ar-” she began, barely above a whisper.

“I need a break,” Arthur suddenly said, not looking at anyone. Alfred blinked, looking surprised. “Would anyone like some tea?”

“Um,” said Lili, knowing that Arthur wanted to leave the room to cry. “I-I'll have some,” she told him, knowing it would be a good excuse to take a little longer if he had to.

“I'll have some as well,” said Natalya, looking vaguely annoyed.

Alfred, now pale, opened his mouth to speak. But he was stopped by Arthur scrambling to his feet and heading to the door. When he reached it, he paused and said, in a strained voice, “I'll be back soon.” Then he left, the door swinging shut behind him with a bang.

Lili wasn't sure what to do now. Her heart was beating fast, the alarm brought on by the argument gradually fading. Natalya shifted next to her, reaching down to score out 'romance' and 'comic books' on her own pad. For a while, Alfred was still, staring at the door. Lili glanced between him and Natalya, wondering if she should say anything. Maybe ask Alfred to argue with Arthur less. She may be mistaken but she felt that Arthur was only being confrontational because he was expecting to be bullied by Alfred. Before she could say anything, though, Alfred got to his feet.

“I'm gonna get a drink from the vending machine. Be back soon.” His voice was oddly hushed.

“Oh,” said Lili, not sure what to think about that. She had been half-expecting him to say something nasty about Arthur behind his back but it seemed as though he was as shook up by the experience as she felt. “Okay,” she added as he left the room without a backwards glance. Letting out a sigh of relief, she felt the tension seep out of her.

“Are you all right?” asked Natalya, startling Lili. She had forgotten the other girl was still in the room.

“Yes,” Lili assured her, though she was still worried about Arthur.

“I feel sorry for him.”

“So do I,” Lili agreed, reaching up to tug absently at a cattail. “He must be so stressed, thinking that he's going to get bullied more.”

“I wasn't talking about Arthur,” Natalya said, making Lili blink at her. Natalya was looking back at her with a raised eyebrow, seemingly quite calm.

“But- Why do you feel sorry for Alfred?”

“Because everyone thinks he's stupid. He _did_ get into the same English class as us.”

“Well, yes, but only because they told him he'd be kicked out of his clubs if he didn't get good grades.”

“He still got into the same class,” Natalya pointed out. “And then Arthur treats him like that.”

Lili frowned, annoyed on behalf of her best friend. “He has good reason to,” she said with clipped tones.

For a moment, Natalya looked surprised but she quickly frowned. “Why?”

“How else is he supposed to deal with the bullying?” Lili asked, folding her arms.

“If he didn't react so much...”

“That's not the point!” Lili cried.

Natalya's frown deepened. “Arthur's almost bullying him, too, you know. Just because he's an athlete, doesn't mean he's stupid.”

For a moment, Lili stared. She couldn't believe Natalya was being like this. They'd been getting along so well recently and Lili had been sure she was opening up. And now she was saying that Arthur, dealing with horrible treatment by his peers, should be labelled a bully as well? Lili could barely believe it.

Then a thought flashed into her head: _Natalya is sticking up for Alfred because he's a fellow athlete._

_Because she thinks that gives him the right to bully Arthur._

_Because she_ likes _Alfred._

And then, _maybe the Ice Queen title is right._

They were horrible thoughts but the image of Natalya and Alfred together, laughing at pranks done to Arthur, embracing, _kissing_ , sent a sharp pang through Lili's chest. Anger, at both her own inner turmoil and at Natalya's words, rose within her. Without thinking, she scrambled to her feet and glared down at Natalya, hands on her hips. Natalya blinked up at her, expression slowly forming into one of shock.

“Just because you're popular and fit and beautiful, doesn't mean you can say things like that! You don't know how Arthur feels, every day, so don't be mean to him! And I'm going to help him with the tea!”

With that, she turned on her heel and marched to the door. Slamming it behind her, she stalked down the hall, spotting Alfred returning to the room, dragging his heels with a can of Coke in his hand. He looked up when she stormed by but she only sent him a glare: Alfred looked quite terrified.

It was only when she reached Arthur and explained what had happened that she realised just what she had said to Natalya...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Arthur and Alfred kind of dominate this little thing but that's my poor planning - I forgot that, at this stage of their relationship, being within two yards of each other is explosive, so... sorry.)

**Author's Note:**

> I like Lili and Arthur being friends and I also liked the idea of them having parallel relationship problems. I hope the BelLiech is more of a focus than the USUK, though, as that was the intention.
> 
> Lili’s surname: I decided that she wouldn’t have a brother and found that name on the Hetalia Wiki.
> 
> (Oh! Extra bit: Arthur wears reading glasses cause he’s long-sighted. And Lili was totally wearing a flower crown but I never described what she was wearing or had cause to, so...)


End file.
